§ 14. Mrs. GormanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list the statutory provisions covering the terms under which an employee of one local authority may serve as a councillor on another; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. KeySections 1 to 3 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 set out the circumstances in which an employee of one local authority is disqualified from being a councillor in another, thus reinforcing the long-standing convention about the political impartiality of senior local government staff.
§ Mrs. GormanI thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Will he comment on a situation that has arisen in my constituency where the chairman of Thurrock Labour party, which is the ruling party on Thurrock council, also works as the NALGO convener on the council at a salary package of £25,000? He has just negotiated a car leasing deal for senior officers which will cost ratepayers £500,000 a year, at a time when the council has sent notices to people 904 in the rural area saying that it does not have the money to clear sewage. If there is not a bad smell behind that, I should like to know where there is one.
§ Mr. KeyThe important question is not what the officer is paid, but what are his duties. If they involve regularly advising councillors on speaking to the media, the political restrictions must apply. If that is not included in his duties he is entitled to stand for another council. If my hon. Friend has reason to think that an officer whose duties regularly include these politically sensitive matters has not been subjected to the restrictions, she should draw the case to the attention of the independent adjudicator who has power, if the statutory conditions are met, to direct that the officer's post be added to the list of those that are politically restricted.
§ Mr. AshbyWill my hon. Friend consider extending the statutory provisions to candidates? In my constituency the Labour candidate, who works for Leicester county council, appears to be electioneering on about four days out of five. That is a total scandal at the ratepayers' expense.
§ Mr. KeyMy hon. Friend, with his excellent record of representing his constituents, should have nothing to fear from such a candidate.
§ Mr. SkinnerHave not the Tories a cheek to talk about two jobs when 250 Tory Members have moonlighting jobs? Some of them have as many as six, but after the next election Tebbit will be running an agency for all the defeated Tory Members because they will be out of jobs here. The Minister should direct his attention to the hon. Member for Chorley (Mr. Dover) who, when elected to the House, was an officer of an authority and he kept both jobs.